We round up our coverage of the 4th
Experimental Film Forum by chatting with Ghazi
Alqudcy about his film My Parents Are
Animals.

SINdie (S):My Parents Are Animals stood out among the films screened in the
Singapore Experimental Shorts series, given that it had a structured, if not
necessarily linear, narrative -- there was character development, and a plot
that went through the conflict-resolution-conclusion arc. What defines
experimental film for you? Is it more about narrative or about technique, in
your view?

Ghazi
Alqudcy (GA): To answer the question “What is experimental film?”
could be quite tough as experimental film as a type or genre has evolved. When
I was doing this film, I didn’t start off thinking, “I’m making an experimental
film”. In fact I was hoping not to do that.

During the pitching
session, I proposed a mockumentary about five Singaporeans who were selected
for a mission to Mars and the conspiracy behind that. (Firstly I am amazed how
the School of Art, Design and Media at NTU would choose that project). It’s
quite a crazy project. Midway, I told my professor, I want to do a narrative
project and would like to change my idea, and he approved it.
After a gruelling 10 months of scriptwriting, I dropped the project one week
before shooting as I could not get my A-list cast due to time commitment. My Parents Are Animals were conceived
the day after I told everyone from my team that I am sorry. And they decided to
push me even further. Lesson learnt here, in filmmaking, it’s important to get
the right team. Thus I think the journey is more experimental then the film.

After making the film, I realised it’s the kind of
film that is quite difficult to put in a particular type. Aishah, the film
programmer at The Substation, was quite interested to put it in “experimental
shorts” for the performative element being quite experimental. I thank her for
that.

S: What were your inspirations for the look / art direction of
the film? The indoor scenes, particularly the bedroom ones (where it seemed M
and W were actually getting along), felt very dark and sultry, also mirrored in
W's outfits (the black dress, the red lipstick). And then you had the scenes
set outdoors with the bright sun, the bright green grass in the park, where M
and W were up to some activities that would've seemed pretty strange to passers-by.

GA: The
credit for the look and art direction goes to Naresh Subhash (Director of
Photography) and Leong Mei Hung (Art Director). I would give them references or
share how I would like it to happen and they built on that. I often give my
references very vague, as film is a very collaborative effort. For some of the
scenes, it could be as vague as, “W takes over the world and destroys all man
with her beauty.” (The point where the actress puts on her lipstick)

And passers-by seemed to be very open about this. Of
course we had curious uncles trying to watch but nothing more than that.

S: What was your process like with your actors? Was there room
for improvisation or did you work with a detailed script? And I have to ask—what
sorts of reactions did you get, say from passers-by, when you filmed some of
the “edgier” scenes (like when M and W wear collars) in public?

GA: I left full creativity to my crew so that I
could focus more on directing the actors. There were no rehearsals prior to
this, and Andre (M) meets Minyi (W) for the first time on set. And to make
things more difficult, we started the shoot with one of the most difficult
scenes, the bedroom scenes where W takes over control. I requested for half an
hour alone with Andre and Minyi in the bedroom and we did some familiarisation
exercises. It was a half hour of them behaving like dogs, changing emotions
from angry, making love to even fighting for space. It was quite intense and
till today I could never thank Andre and Minyi for wanting to try the roles of
M and W.

Directing them after that was quite easy. I pulled
emotions from the exercise and we constantly worked upon this idea of surreal
realism. There were times for me to brief both of them together, but most of
the time, I would spend time briefing them individually. And again, I would be
as vague as possible in my direction as Andre and Minyi are able to give inputs
to my direction. For instance, there was a powerful scene, which we didn’t use
due to some reason: Minyi was crying so painfully after being tied by the door
as a dog. At that part, I shared my experience with her when I watched Poetry (link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry_(film)) by Lee Chang Dong, which left me
staring at the white wall for quite some time. And we talked about this pain
staring at the white wall. It was just a 15-minute discussion and by then, she
was ready for it.

There were passers-by who were curious, but we would
try to bring the camera closer and had crew cover the set or block it from a
certain distance. This was to make sure that curious passers-by would not
disturb my actors’ performances.

S: At the Q&A session following the Singapore Experimental
Shorts screening, you had mentioned that the film is about male-female
relationship dynamics. Do you intend for your viewers to take any message
away from the film? Though it is about the challenges of such a relationship
and the somewhat perverse ways in which two individuals can antagonise each
other, I also found it funny! Did you intend to evoke laughter? Do you think
audiences laugh if they feel uncomfortable with what they see on screen?

GA: I don’t
think there is a focus message that I would like the audience to take from this
film, as this would restrict ways of reading the film. The male-female
relationship dynamic is quite clear in the film and the title is quite clear,
“My Parents Are Animals”. Again, this film is not about my parents, but how I
see the society, the people around me, and observation.

For me, I think certain parts of the film were quite comedic. I
personally think that the whole film is a comedy, kind of like how we all laugh
at ourselves…

S: Are you able to share what
you are working on at the moment? Is it a continuation of or a departure from
"My Parents Are Animals", given your interest in further exploring
male-female relationship dynamics?

GA: I am still
daydreaming about my next work. Taking a break from making films for a while.
But not for long!!!

Presently I teach
foundation level Moving Images and Sound at Lasalle and in my spare time do
other art shows.

Just last week, I
exhibited a new work as part of a group show curated by Jason Wee for Grey
Projects. I presented an audio piece entitled, “Would you be laughing at
yourself if one day you pick up a public phone and the whole world is laughing
at you.” The artist statement is: “Laughter is contagious and could be seen as a weapon of mass
destruction. Try putting 500 obese, fat and ugly queers trapped in a gas
chamber. How sad yet funny.” The show, “NO APPROVAL” (link: https://www.facebook.com/events/409347965836992/)
is part of Indignation (https://www.facebook.com/IndigNationSG), a queer event.